A mysterious, unidentified flying object over Semiahmoo Bay has caught the attention, and imagination, of some White Rock residents.

Matt Kilback first reported seeing the unusual object to a White Rock Facebook group last week.

Kilback, who was asking if anyone else saw the 鈥渁nomalies鈥� that took place Dec. 15 afternoon, reported seeing what he initially thought was a waterspout forming.

In an interview with Peace Arch News, Kilback said the morphing object first looked like a plume of smoke or mist.

鈥淪uper saturated, dark, low-hanging, free-moving cloud that looked like it was trying to touch down on the water to form a waterspout. Up above it, there were literally circle clouds,鈥� Kilback said.

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鈥淎s soon as it touched the water, it would start pulling water up and then it would collapse. And then it would disappear for a second, almost as if it would go into the water, and it would start reforming again in another spot.鈥�

Kilback said the object was about 2-5 kilometres out in the bay, but says he got a pretty decent look at it coming out of the water.

鈥淚t was forming like a sort of funnel shape sort of thing. And then it completely came out of the water, and it came probably a few hundred feet up, and then it came back down and it totally submerged itself and formed, it looked like, a solid formation under the water. And then it started moving without making any splashes. It wasn鈥檛 disturbing the water at all, but you could see clearly it was a round object that was submerged right under the surface of the water and it was moving incredible speeds.鈥�

Shannon Stewart, who also observed the unusual object, described it as 鈥渞eally weird.鈥�

鈥淭here was a dark shadow moving across the water, then it would disappear and reappear moving in the other direction. This went on for a long time,鈥� Stewart told PAN.

鈥淲e used binoculars to look because we thought it was a whale in the bay or a flock of birds, maybe. But we couldn鈥檛 see any birds, but there was something at the tip of the shadow coming out of the water like a seal or something.鈥�

Asked if what Stewart observed could have been a submarine, she said no.

鈥淚t definitely wasn鈥檛 a submarine. It didn鈥檛 move like a submarine at all.鈥�

Kilback offered two theories, suggesting the object was related to US Navy technology or it was extraterrestrial.

鈥淚t looked like either nano-tech, or it was ethereal, man. I鈥檓 telling you. I do believe that we can鈥檛 be the only ones in this universe. You can鈥檛 help but think aliens, man,鈥� Kilback said.

Contacted by PAN, White Rock Sea Tours owner Andrew Newman, who has spent countless hours in Semiahmoo Bay, weighed in on what the object could have been.

Newman said when the atmospheric conditions are just right, objects in the water 鈥� such as a vessel 鈥� can appear distorted.

鈥淚t looks like a mirage,鈥� Newman said.

Another theory, which Newman agreed is most likely, is that it could have been a flock of birds.

鈥淚鈥檝e seen that in the distance, and that is ridiculous, too. That looks like a flying saucer,鈥� Newman said.

Local photographer and birder pointed to Dunlin, small birds that flock in numbers up to 40,000.

鈥淚 can totally understand why (some) think it鈥檚 alien or other worldly!鈥� Paton wrote to PAN. 鈥淏ut they鈥檙e tiny little birds!鈥�

Paton explained that the birds arrive over winter and move up and down the coast in great numbers before returning to the Arctic in the summer.

鈥淎s they turn and catch the light they seem to disappear for a while but then catch the light 鈥� black and then white 鈥� absolutely brilliant to watch,鈥� she wrote.

Paton said the birds are about the size of a thumb.

鈥淭heir dance or murmuration is usually a defence manoeuvre to evade peregrine falcons,鈥� Paton wrote. 鈥淭hey flash and swoop and vanish and try to trick the falcon.鈥�

Kilback, however, isn鈥檛 convinced.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no chance it was birds. Not at all, man.鈥�